Gerald Stanley Clark (9 May 1927 – June 1999) was a New Zealand sailor, writer and

ornithologist Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

. He is notable for his ornithological research work on

subantarctic islands The sub-Antarctic zone is a physiographic region in the Southern Hemisphere, located immediately north of the Antarctic region. This translates roughly to a latitude of between 46° and 60° south of the Equator. The subantarctic region inc ...

and for his

circumnavigation Circumnavigation is the complete navigation around an entire island, continent, or astronomical object, astronomical body (e.g. a planet or natural satellite, moon). This article focuses on the circumnavigation of Earth. The first circumnaviga ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

in his self-built

yacht A yacht () is a sail- or marine propulsion, motor-propelled watercraft made for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a ...

''Totorore''.Clark, Gerry. (2000). ''The Totorore Voyage''. Homelands Publications: Kerikeri, New Zealand. (3rd edition).

Early years

Clark was born in

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in northeastern Essex, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the county, with a population of 130,245 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census. The demonym is ''Colcestrian''. Colchester occupies the ...

, England, and educated at

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...

and later at the

Thames Nautical Training College The Thames Nautical Training College, as it is now called, is a school that trains officers for a seagoing career. It was, for over a hundred years, situated aboard ships named HMS ''Worcester''. London shipowners, marine insurance underwriters ...

, then known as HMS ''Worcester''. In 1944, unable to join the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

because of a visual defect, he joined the

British Merchant Navy The British Merchant Navy is the collective name given to British civilian ships and their associated crews, including officers and ratings. In the UK, it is simply referred to as the Merchant Navy or MN. Merchant Navy vessels fly the Red Ensi ...

, serving with the

Union-Castle Line The Union-Castle Line was a British shipping line that operated a fleet of passenger liners and cargo ships between Europe and Africa from 1900 to 1977. It was formed from the merger of the Union Line and Castle Shipping Line. It merged with ...

on the

Liberty ship Liberty ships were a ship class, class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Although British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost cons ...

''Samflora'', and completing his cadet training during a two-year cruise without home leave. Upon discharge from the ''Samflora'' he joined the Straits Steamship Company, based in Singapore, as a junior officer on small ships trading through the islands of

South East Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

.O'Grady, Andrew. (2000). Gerry Clark – a biographical note. Pp.349–364 in "The Totorore Voyage", 3rd edition. In 1951 Clark returned to England to attend the Warsash Maritime Centre at

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

to sit for his Master's Certificate. While he was there he married Marjorie Ellen Bates who later joined him in Singapore, where the couple had four daughters. There Clark was promoted first to captain and then to assistant marine superintendent of a fleet of fifty vessels.

New Zealand

In 1958 Clark and his family moved to

Kerikeri Kerikeri () is a town in the Bay of Islands, in the Far North District of the North Island of New Zealand. It lies at the head of Kerikeri Inlet, a northwestern arm of the Bay of Islands, where fresh water of the Kerikeri River enters the Paci ...

in New Zealand, where he bought the Homelands

orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit tree, fruit- or nut (fruit), nut-producing trees that are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also so ...

. Although they struggled at first, eventually they successfully pioneered the

organic farming Organic farming, also known as organic agriculture or ecological farming or biological farming,Labelling, article 30 o''Regulation (EU) 2018/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2024 on organic production and labelling of ...

citrus ''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the family Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as oranges, mandarins, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes. ''Citrus'' is nativ ...

and sub-tropical fruits in the area. Clark also attended evening classes in

boat building Boat building is the design and construction of boats (instead of the larger ships) — and their on-board systems. This includes at minimum the construction of a hull, with any necessary propulsion, mechanical, navigation, safety and other ser ...

, building his first yacht, the 7 m ''Ketiga'' in 1968, in which he took part in the first Single-handed Trans-Tasman Yacht Race in 1970. In 1973 he sailed around New Zealand, including the Chatham,

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

and

Campbell Islands The Campbell Islands (or Campbell Island Group) are a group of subantarctic islands, belonging to New Zealand. They lie about 600 km south of Stewart Island. The islands have a total area of , consisting of one big island, Campbell Is ...

The ''Totorore'' expedition

The ''Totorore'' expedition was conceived as a circum-Antarctic voyage to study the

seabird Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adaptation, adapted to life within the marine ecosystem, marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent ...

s of the

Southern Ocean The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the world ocean, generally taken to be south of 60th parallel south, 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is the seco ...

in order to further their conservation. Clark spent seven years building the 10 m yacht ''Totorore'' (the Maori name for the

Antarctic prion The Antarctic prion (''Pachyptila desolata'') also known as the dove prion, or totorore in Māori, is the largest of the prions, a genus of small petrels of the Southern Ocean. Taxonomy The Antarctic prion was formally described in 1789 by th ...

) of

kauri ''Agathis'', commonly known as kauri or dammara, is a genus of evergreen coniferous trees, native to Australasia and Southeast Asia. It is one of three extant genera in the family Araucariaceae, alongside '' Wollemia'' and ''Araucaria'' (being ...

timber, completing and launching her in 1982. The ''Totorore'' left Kerikeri on 26 February 1983, eventually returning on 6 November 1986, 3 years, 8 months and 16 days later, having travelled some 71,000 km eastwards, around and about the Southern Ocean and the

Antarctic Peninsula The Antarctic Peninsula, known as O'Higgins Land in Chile and Tierra de San Martin in Argentina, and originally as Graham Land in the United Kingdom and the Palmer Peninsula in the United States, is the northernmost part of mainland Antarctica. ...

, visiting numerous islands to survey and count seabirds. The most significant ornithological work was carried out in southern

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

where new colonies of several species were discovered, and in

South Georgia South Georgia is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic Ocean that is part of the British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It lies around east of the Falkland Islands. ...

where comprehensive and accurate counts were made of

wandering albatross The snowy albatross (''Diomedea exulans''), also known as the wandering albatross, white-winged albatross, or goonie, is a large seabird from the family Diomedeidae Albatrosses, of the biological family (biology), family Diomedeidae, are la ...

es and

king penguin The king penguin (''Aptenodytes patagonicus'') is the second largest species of penguin, smaller than but somewhat similar in appearance to the emperor penguin. King penguins mainly eat lanternfish, squid, and krill. On foraging trips, king pen ...

s along the long coastline. During much of the expedition Clark was accompanied and aided by one or two companions, but sometimes, as on a late leg of the voyage between

Marion Island The Prince Edward Islands are two small uninhabited subantarctic volcanic islands in the southern Indian Ocean that are administered by South Africa. They are named Marion Island (named after Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne, 1724–1772) and P ...

and Fremantle, Australia, he was alone and frequently imperilled by rough seas and equipment failure. Following his return, honours received by Clark included: * 1986 – Blue Water Trophy (Northland Harbour Board) * 1986 – Tillman Medal for Cruising in High Latitudes (Royal Cruising Club of Great Britain) * 1987 – Blue Water Medal (

Cruising Club of America The Cruising Club of America (CCA) is an international organization of cruisers whose objects are to promote cruising and racing by amateurs, to encourage the development of suitable types of cruising craft, to stimulate interest in seamanship, nav ...

) * 1987 –

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

, for services to ornithology, in the 1987 Queen's Birthday Honours * 1988 – Tequila Propeller Award (Royal Akarana Yacht Club) * 1988 – Fred Norris Medal (Devonport Yacht Club) * 1988 – Stolberger Memorial Award (New Zealand Yacht Club Navigators Society) * 1988 –

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

of the

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

For the next twelve years Clark continued his interest in seabird conservation and New Zealand's subantarctic islands by making numerous trips in the ''Totorore'' to assist researchers from the

Department of Conservation Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

to count, map, and study seabirds. It was in the course of an expedition to recover satellite transmitters, used to track albatrosses breeding on the

Antipodes Islands The Antipodes Islands (, ) are inhospitable and uninhabited volcanic islands in subantarctic waters to the south of – and territorially part of – New Zealand. The archipelago lies to the southeast of Stewart Island / Rakiura, and to the ...

, that the ''Totorore'' disappeared on about 12 June 1999 off the south coast of

Antipodes Island In geography, the antipode () of any spot on Earth is the point on Earth's surface diametrically opposite to it. A pair of points ''antipodal'' () to each other are situated such that a straight line connecting the two would pass through Ear ...

, along with Clark and his companion Roger Sale. Antipodes_South_Bay

Publications

Clark wrote a book, based upon extracts from his diary, about the Totorore expedition "The Totorore Voyage'’ first published in 1988 by Century Hutchinson, Auckland. He also produced reports and published papers in various journals and bulletins on his research, including: * Clark, G. (1983). Totorore expedition to southern Chile. ''Australasian Seabird Group Newsletter'' 18: 20–21. * Clark, G.S.; Meyer, A.P. von; Nelson, J.W.; Watt, J.N. (1984). Notes on the sooty shearwaters and other avifauna of the Chilean offshore island of Guafo. ''Notornis'' 31: 225–231. * Clark, G.S.; Goodwin, A.J.; Meyer, A.P. von.. (1984). Extension of the known range of some seabirds on the coast of southern Chile. ''Notornis'' 31: 320–324. * Clark, G.S. (1985). Cattle egrets near Antarctica in April. ''Notornis'' 32: 325. * Clark, G.S. (1986). Seabirds observed in the Pacific Southern Ocean during autumn. ''Australasian Seabird Group Newsletter'' 23: 1–15. * Clark, G.S.; Sale, C.S. (1986). Notes on the seabirds observed during the Totorore Expedition's voyage across the Drake Passage to the Antarctic Peninsula and return, April 1985. ''Australasian Seabird Group Newsletter'' 24: 5–7. * Clark, G.S. (1987). Seabird observations between South Georgia and South Africa from a sailing vessel. ''Cormorant'' 14: 20–30. * Clark, G.S. (1989). Cape pigeons breeding and Westland black petrels seen at Chatham Islands. ''Notornis'' 36: 51–52. * Bourne, W.R.P.; Brooke, M. de L.; Clark, G.S.; Stone, T. (1992). Wildlife conservation problems in the Juan Fernandez archipelago, Chile. ''Oryx'' 26: 43–51. * Clark, G.S.; Cowan, A.; Harrison, P.; Bourne, W.R.P. (1992). Notes on the seabirds of the Cape Horn islands. ''Notornis'' 39: 133–144. * Tennyson, A.J.D.; Mayhill, R.C.; Clark, G.S. (1993). A visit to The Pyramid and the Murumurus, Chatham Islands. ''Tane'' 34: 171–179. * Clark, G.; Amey, J.; McAllister, G. (1995). Unexpectedly large number of wandering albatrosses (''Diomedea exulans'') breeding on Antipodes Island, New Zealand. ''Notornis'' 42: 42–46. * Clark, G.; Robertson, C.J.R. (1996). New Zealand whitecapped mollymawks (''Diomedea cauta steadi'') breeding with black-browed mollymawks (''D. melanophrys melanophrys'') at Antipodes Islands, New Zealand. ''Notornis'' 43: 1–6. * Clark, G.; Booth, A.; Amey, J. (1998). The Totorore expedition to the Bounty Islands, New Zealand, October 1997 to January 1998. Unpublished report to Department of Conservation, Southland Conservancy, Invercargill. 64 pp.

References

External links